


The Undoing of Robert Chase

by PleaseDontHoldBack



Category: House M.D.
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 00:25:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15182675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PleaseDontHoldBack/pseuds/PleaseDontHoldBack
Summary: Chase's attempts to save his job during the Volger Debacle.





	The Undoing of Robert Chase

It all started with Vogler.  Or maybe it started with House being House, as Vogler was never an issue until he decided to start a battle with House.  And at the beginning Vogler was still a non-issue, since House never lost to anyone. That being said House had never gone up against someone with one hundred million dollars hanging over the hospital’s head.

And Chase, of all people, knew how money worked.  He knew how powerful it could be, and what it could do to people.  He had witnessed it firsthand, as much as he hated to admit it, with him and his father.  Chase would have never given him the time of day until he began to feel obligated to with all the money that was being shoved down his throat.  Despite the fact that Chase’s father packed up and left him and his family behind he was still considered a good father by the rest of society simply because he paid his way into it.  

And so Chase knew that House wouldn’t last.  It was only a matter of time until money won out.  It was because of this fact that Chase sided with the money over House the first chance he got.  He agreed to be a rat for Vogler; a fact he wasn’t proud of, by any means, but it was a fact that would save his job.  

That was, of course, until Chase found out Vogler was also talking to Foreman and Cameron.  He shouldn’t have been surprised; of course Cameron and Foreman could be bought for money, too, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so fast.  Especially after Cameron had made that speech about sticking together. 

But the point was, Chase was in danger again.  He knew he was the first one on the chopping block, after all.  House had made it abundantly clear that he had only hired Chase because of a phone call from his dad.  And while at the time it had been enough to secure Chase a place on House’s team, Chase wasn’t naive enough to believe it would save him now.    

Unfortunately, the only thing Chase had ever had to offer anyone was either his dad’s reputation or his dad’s money.  And, in this case, neither one would work. His dad’s reputation wouldn’t hold up to Foreman’s intelligence or Cameron’s beauty, and his dad’s money wouldn’t hold up to the one hundred million dollars Vogler had already invested. 

To make Chase’s anxiety worse, it seemed as if everyone knew that Chase was going to be House’s first pick for the chopping block.  Foreman had already said so, Cameron was shooting him pitying looks when she thought he wasn’t looking, and Vogler was already on the lookout for another mole.  And Chase was nearing the end of his rope.

It wasn’t until Chase had overheard House talking about grabbing his ass to Wilson that he had any kind of game plan.  How many times had House called him pretty or compared him to a girl? Now, as far as Chase knew, House was straight, but all those comments had to mean  _ something _ , right?  And Chase already knew that House wasn’t above prostitutes.  He had always been quite loud about it, so Chase knew he wouldn’t be morally against the idea.  Chase just had to market himself well enough: sex in exchange for his job. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but Chase would be damned if he had to crawl back to his dad after all he had done to get away from him.  And if Chase didn’t have this job then his dad was all he had to count on. He knew House wouldn’t be giving him a sparkling recommendation. Especially not after firing him. 

So, here he was, standing in House’s darkened office in front of a speechless House.  Chase would have found it comical if it wasn’t his job on the line. 

“You think having sex with me will make me obligated not to fire you?” House finally got out after he had swallowed one of his pills.  

“I’m saying I’ll have sex with you under the condition that it makes you feel obligated not to fire me,” Chase explained, keeping his voice and face as emotionless as possible.  It wouldn’t be good for him if House found out just how much this entire situation was tearing him apart. 

“I didn’t realize I was that desperate,” House scoffed.  But he was still standing, staring at Chase with his head cocked to the side, as if trying to figure out a puzzle.  And that was good, because if Chase was a puzzle then it meant he had House’s attention. 

“I never said you were desperate,” Chase answered, crossing his arms.  “Just thought maybe you’d want something different, is all.”

“Different as in a  _ guy _ ?” House asked, giving him a dumbfounded look.  “I’ll have you know my regular escort service has a multitude of guys to choose from, if I were so inclined.  If I wanted a guy why would I go for one so wet behind the ears?”

“Who says I’m wet behind the ears?” Chase asked, taking several steps forward before grabbing House’s shirt and yanking the other man towards him.  When there was no sound of protest Chase pressed his lips to the other man’s, going so far as to run his tongue along House’s bottom lip. He pulled away when House didn’t kiss back, but he wasn’t deterred.  “I went to an all boys boarding school, remember?” he asked, his voice husky as he whispered in House’s ear. “You want some of their contact information? You can ask them if I’m wet behind the ears,” he said as he ran kisses down House’s neck.  

That was when House shoved him away.  “I can admire that you like this job so much as to whore yourself out for it, but consider the offer declined,” House said with a glare before grabbing his cane and starting to limp away.  

Chase grabbed his arm.  “Well, what am I supposed to do then?” he snapped, frustrated and humiliated at the entire situation.  “Foreman’s too smart to fire, and Cameron’s too pretty. What do I have?”

House lost his frown just to tilt his head at Chase again.  “Interesting that you decided to compete with Cameron and not with Foreman,” he said before walking out of his office.  “Wonder what that says about you,” he called out before the door closed shut. 

Chase couldn’t think of a come back.

* * *

 

The next day when Chase handed House his coffee he knew there would be another talk.  

“You think a suck up can win over smart and pretty?” House snapped at him as soon as they were alone.  

“I don’t know what else to do!” Chase shouted, as he tried hard not to pace the room.  He ran a hand through his hair, gripping more than was necessary. “You said it yourself that I can’t compete!”

“No, I said it was interesting that you were trying to compete with pretty and not intelligent,” House replied, leaning heavily on his chain.  “You’re the one who doesn’t want to compete using intelligence, you know, _ the thing I hired you for _ ?”

“You hired me because my dad called in to ask a favor!” Chase replied back.  

“You think I’d waste one of my positions on a  _ favor _ ?” House asked, cocking his head at Chase.  “Me? Wasting a position on a pretty person?  Yeah, maybe, if I didn’t already have Cuddy. But since when do I do people  _ favors _ ?”

“But you said-”

“I say a lot of things,” House replied.  “I’m saying things right now. And I’ve gotta say, I always assumed you had self esteem problems.  I just assumed daddy issues, but now I’m thinking you’re a lot more messed up than I thought. I wonder, if I told you to get down on your knees and suck my cock, would you?  Or did you not think that far ahead?”

Chase stopped biting his lip as he stared at House.  “Are you saying it’s a deal?” he asked in disbelief. 

House raised an eyebrow at him.  “Are you saying you’ll do it?” he asked before hobbling over to his office chair and tossing away his cane.  He spread his legs and locked his eyes with Chase’s.

Chase swallowed and nodded.  It was true he had never really thought House would take him up on his offer, but that hadn’t meant he hadn’t mentally prepared himself for it.  He stumbled over to House and knelt between his knees, looking up and waiting. 

Eventually, House unzipped his pants, and Chase went to work.  And he got into it, which hadn’t happened with him and a male sex partner in  _ years _ .  But, whatever the reason, today he was really enjoying himself.  Maybe House was right, and he did have more Daddy issues than he had given himself credit for.  But, it was hard to even remember that it was House on the other end of this blow job, or that pleasure had nothing to do with why he was doing this.  

It was around a particularly large moan of Chase’s that House came without any kind of warning.  Chase swallowed it, not even thinking about the action until after he had done it. He leaned back as House stuffed himself back in his hands.  

“You could compete against Foreman if you dropped this ‘the patient’s fat’ thing and focused on what could possibly had  _ made  _ her that fat,” House said as he grabbed his cane.  He was already halfway across the room before he explained himself.  “A little tip on staying on the team in exchange your generous mouth.”

“But you said-!”

“Never agreed to anything!” House shouted right before the door closed.  

And once again Chase had no come back.

* * *

 

A few days later, after they diagnosed a little girl with Cushings and had moved on to a state senator, Chase knew he had captured House’s attention once more.  House had threatened Chase’s job, and Chase had scoffed. And Chase knew by House’s slightly cocked head that he had just given something away. 

“You try the same tactic on Vogler as you did on me?” House asked as soon as they were alone in the office.  

“No,” Chase snapped right back, surprised and insulted.  “Who do you think I am? I wouldn’t do something like that!”

“Oh, no, of course not,” House replied as he sat in his chair and twirled his cane between his fingers.  “Blowing an old man to keep your job is nothing like blowing a fat, black man to keep your job,” House bit out. “Can’t believe I didn’t notice a difference before you said something.”

“It is different!” Chase insisted, running his hands through his hair and gripping harder than necessary.  Once again he tried hard to stop himself from pacing the room. House was never one to be sympathetic towards anxiety.  “It’s different because with you … with you I  _ want  _ to, okay?”

“Ah, so, in a contest between sleeping with me to keep your job and sleeping with Vogler to keep your job you choose me,” House said snidely.  “What a real honor that is.” 

“You aren’t listening to me when I talk!” Chase shouted, getting angrier by the second.  All the anxiety of the past week must be getting to him. A xanax would be a welcome relief if he hadn’t thrown them all down the toilet years ago.  “I said I  _ wanted  _ to sleep with you!  The job has nothing to do with it!”  And, at that point, Chase wasn’t sure whether he was telling the truth or not.  Originally, this hadn’t been about anything but the job, but, considering the way Chase’s cock twitched in his pants, his statement wasn’t exactly a lie.

House just looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a few seconds.  “If you wanna sleep with me then come over here and prove it,” he demanded, once again spreading his legs and pulling down his zipper.  

And once again, Chase came willingly, placing the ‘why’ as far back in his brain as it could go.  He knelt in between House’s legs and touch his length in his mouth, and he couldn’t remember feeling hornier at any other time in his life.  

And when House had come in his mouth again, zipped himself back up, and gave him a single pat on the head before strolling out of the office, Chase couldn’t help but feel accomplished, despite the fact that his own dick was throbbing in his pants, completely untouched throughout the encounter.  

The same day, House accused him of making deals with Vogler.  And even though Chase had told himself multiple times that he was making the right decisions, and even though Chase had rehearsed multiple comebacks to whatever insults House might have thrown his way, and even though Chase knew he was protected by Vogler and it didn’t make any difference.  Chase had no come back.

* * *

 

Even though Chase knew that House knew he was making deals behind his back, for some reason, he hadn’t expected that House would confront him about it.  So, when House called him out of the lab under the premise of needing to talk, Chase had expected to be back on his knees.

He was completely caught off guard when House accused him of ratting him out to both Vogler and Cuddy.  The accusation froze him, despite the fact that, in retrospect, he really should have been ready for it.  House was never the type of person to ignore the elephant in the room. He was much more apt to be the one poking and prodding at it.  

Initially, Chase wanted to lie about it, but then he thought about what House had said.  He couldn’t fire him; Chase had no reason to lie. And it wasn’t as if Chase hadn’t realized that before, but it was different to hear it out in the open and from House’s own mouth.  House couldn’t fire him, and he didn’t seem to be fighting it. That meant Chase was in the clear. He was sure he’d feel the relief as soon as this nerve-wracking conversation was over.  “Yeah,” he heard himself admitting, trying hard (and most probably failing) to keep his composure. 

He could feel his confidence growing as House asked how he could work with him if he didn’t trust him.  “You don’t have a choice,” Chase said, pointing out the obvious as he turned to walk away. He only got a few steps before he felt House’s grip on his shoulder as he led him into the office.  

“If you knew I couldn’t fire you what was your plan with me?” House asked as soon as he had shut the office door.  “Why compete at all if you already knew you were the winner?”

Chase shrugged as he shifted from one foot to the other.  Admittedly, he didn’t know the answer to that one himself, and it was something he was stubbornly refusing to delve into.  “Security,” he guessed, because that had been the best answer he had allowed himself when he had been thinking of his motives.  

House glared at him.  “Right, because being a rat for two different people, both higher up on the totem pole, so to speak,” House began before interrupting himself to swallow a pill.  “ _ That _ wasn’t enough security.  You had to get a  _ third  _ safety net just in case Cuddy finally fell for my charms and Vogler went broke.”    

Chase felt a knot form in his chest as House pointed out that perfectly sound logic.  It did seem …  _ odd _ , now that he was being forced to think about it.  Cameron had scared him, when she said Vogler was trying to make her an offer.  Vogler had scared him more when he pointed out that he had also talked to Foreman.  But that’s why he had gone to Cuddy to tell her the same information he was feeding Vogler.  There wasn’t any reason for Chase to try to get House on his side, too. “I was being cautious,” he said when he realized he had been silent for too long.

“You were being cautious?” House repeated slowly, cocking his head as he stared at Chase.  “By trying to sleep with your boss?” he reiterated. “Sounds pretty cautious to me,” he said, giving an exaggerated head nod.  “More like you were using it as an  _ excuse  _ to sleep with me.  You’re very pretty, Chase, but you aren’t my type.  You don’t have the right parts,” he explained, using his cane to point at Chase’s crotch.  

“Why would I  _ want  _ to sleep with you?” Chase snapped.  “You’re cynical, narcissistic, and brash.  You don’t trust anyone, and don’t want anyone to trust you.  You continuously go out of your way to make life harder for other people.”

“Part of my charm,” House replied before popping another pill.

“And,” Chase continued, staring House down, “if it’s suddenly all about honesty, you also have a small dick.”  He didn’t wait for a response before strolling out of the office. 

But, House could not be stopped when it came to the last word, and Chase got a response later that day, during a diagnosis of their patient.  Chase pointed out that the senator’s spleen wasn’t enlarged.

House had given him a very pointed look as he said, “Size isn’t everything.”

And Chase hadn’t expected that.  He hadn’t expected House to care at all.  He certainly hadn’t expected him to shoot back a reply  _ hours  _ after the incident.  Once again, Chase couldn’t think of a come back.    

* * *

 

When House had discovered the the senator’s ailment was Chase’s diagnosis from the starting gate he couldn’t hide his surprise.  He had been right. He’d been  _ right _ .  If people had listened to him from start the senator wouldn’t be dying in a hospital bed right now.  Which meant that maybe he  _ could  _ compete with Foreman.  Maybe he was more than just his father’s son.  

Of course, House couldn’t let him win.  “Well, it was a stupid idea when you said it,” he snapped before pointing out the additional symptoms he had presented  _ after  _ Chase’s initial diagnosis.  It was also pointed out that C.V.I.D. was a childhood disease, which also proved Chase stupid for suggesting it.  

Chase just couldn’t win.  Not that he had expected House to be on his team after everything that had happened between them.  He had hoped, however, that his being right meant that his opinions on the diagnosis would be taken to heart more often.  Judging by the looks on Forman’s and Cameron’s faces this was not going to be the case. 

Chase couldn’t think of anything to say.  Then, House destroyed the speech Vogler had given him, and Chase didn’t feel so stupid for having his safety nets in place.  

End


End file.
